Beyond the gore, The Dead Janitors Club also is a cautionary tale about a little-known cottage industry that, in many ways, still operates like the Wild West, under the radar of most cops, medical examiners and other professionals connected to the death industry, the article stated.

Klima''s short but memorable stint in the crime scene cleanup business isn''t entirely out of character: When he was 12, he stumbled across a book on serial killers in a library — and was fascinated by the gruesome content. In his view, mopping up morbid scenes that would give most people nightmares wasn''t a huge stretch, the article noted.

Klima''s father was a stage magician and his mother a school psychologist. "So it was no surprise," he wrote, "that I wound up a bit odd."

Klima says most jobs were "pretty brutal" but that by focusing on the cleaning process itself he was able to attack with a sense of detachment, the article added.